Brigadier General Janis Karpinski was in charge of Iraq prisons in 2003, including the now-infamous Abu Ghraib prison. She now says that all forms of interrogation practices were ordered down during the Bush administration. She said this on an appearance at CBS News’ The Early Show.

Karpinski told Harry Smith, “These soldiers didn’t design these techniques on their own…we were following orders. We were bringing this to our chain of command and they were saying whatever the military intelligence tells you to do out there you are authorized to do.”

According to a new Senate Armed Services Committee report, the initial practices of the US interrogation were being discussed in the CIA and Pentagon way back in 2002. It also draws parallels between the interrogation policies leading to abuse in the Abu Ghraib prison to those at the US Naval base at the Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Karpinski was demoted to the ranks of a Colonel from that of Brigadier General and she chose to retire after that.

Karpinski also said, “The line is clear. It went from Washington, D.C. From the very top of the administration with the legal opinions through Bagram to Guantanamo Bay and then to Iraq via the commander from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. And the contractors who were hired to do those things.” She said she and the other officers were essentially “scapegoated” and stated, “Scapegoat is the perfect word and it’s an understatement. Right now, with the hard, fast facts in those memos, the black and white proof, the administration is suggesting that those operatives should be immune from any investigations or persecution.”